Well boys and girls, Looks like we wait on a wasted season and a december departure for the Koala unless the new assistants can lipstick up this pig and help cover for him.

Click to expand...

I’m not sure how this is a good situation when the new assistants are just waiting to step in after Tmac fails. I’m not sure how they’re all going to work together with there being an internal power struggle.

Nicholson wasn't going to fire Chia and Chia in turn stated that he thought Mac "was an excellent coach." That told us exactly what was going to happen.

This is the sort of you rub my b**** and I'll rub yours stuff that a management clique often says when they are "being reviewed."

So you fire a couple of assistant coaches? That's like the head of the Navy saying that there is a strategic review and a few of the petty officers have been transferred to another branch of the services.

Let's just hope that this bunch don't make any trades over the summer. Maybe Mc-D for the rights to Tim Horton?

To try and be a bit more positive, I think it's useful to consider McLellan vs Paul Maurice. Maurice endured a lot of criticism the last two years for his handling of the Jets, and look at them now. I suppose the real test to see if he's a great coach will be to see how they perform next season (look at us, heh). But I think it does go to show that you don't necessarily need to turf a head coach to get significantly improved results. I've always liked McLellan a lot more than Chiarelli, and hopefully getting new assistants makes him more willing to adapt - fix his special teams, actually ****ing line match. I maintain that his even strength systems are pretty good - his focus on the rush works well, theoretically, for a Connor McDavid led-team. Sullivan's Pens focus on the rush too.

To try and be a bit more positive, I think it's useful to consider McLellan vs Paul Maurice. Maurice endured a lot of criticism the last two years for his handling of the Jets, and look at them now. I suppose the real test to see if he's a great coach will be to see how they perform next season (look at us, heh). But I think it does go to show that you don't necessarily need to turf a head coach to get significantly improved results. I've always liked McLellan a lot more than Chiarelli, and hopefully getting new assistants makes him more willing to adapt - fix his special teams, actually ****ing line match. I maintain that his even strength systems are pretty good - his focus on the rush works well, theoretically, for a Connor McDavid led-team. Sullivan's Pens focus on the rush too.

We'll see, I guess.

Click to expand...

I don't wanna go overboard defending McLellan, but really, kryptonite for any coach is having no goalie in his roster capable of making a big save. That's what we had for at least the first 2 months this season. There were lots of other reasons for sure that the team never got any traction, but even in the periods the skaters were going well and things maybe were starting to turn, we get dropped back to earth by the goalies letting in trash and putting games out of reach.

That's the kind of thing Maurice and the Jets were dealing with for years until Hellebuyck changed everything for them this year.

Still, as I said and many have pointed out throughout this thread, the issues the team had this year were not only goaltending. Lots of questionable decisions from behind the bench. Just gotta hope I guess that an upgraded support cast can provide better ideas and McLellan is open to some evolution.

Goaltending was an issue as well as very poor play from Klefbom early in the year. That wasn’t the only problem though. Mclellan has serious issues of his own that he needs to figure out. The biggest one amongst many is he doesn’t seem to be able to adjust to what’s going on in the game. It’s clear he isn’t much of a tactician. If an opposing coach adjusts to what he’s doing or figures out a game plan to stop him, he’s done. It’s easy to see, after watching him here for three years, why the Sharks never went anywhere with him in the playoffs. He may get the Oilers playing better to the point we see the post season again (and according to the organization, it’s all the players fault anyway so they should bounce back) but he isn’t a good enough coach to figure out how to get them further. We’ll be needing to address the coaching issue again soon enough. It’s just too bad we’re going to waste more time before we do it.

Can he learn from his mistakes? I know Sportsnet mentioned that TM said that he has to look at himself in the mirror and assess what he needs to improve on. I guess I am wondering why he didnt adapt/change much throughout the year. Why wait until the end of the year? I know they TM/PC indicating that they changed things up througout the year, but I didnt see much (regarding the PP) or it simply took too long (the PK). I see too much stubbornness and unwillingness to change things when they clearly arent working. I think this is why hes generally been so poor in the Playoffs even with good teams, cant adjust properly. TM needs to reinvent himself imo. Maybe having new assistants will help him give perspective (or maybe his old assistants have been dragging him down), I dont know.

2) Can he manage young players?

I think this is another problem area for him. He doesnt seem to trust young players. The league has changed. Back to the first point, TM needs to learn to adapt. He didnt get enough out of young players (I dont consider McDavid and Drai because they are fool proof). Once again not confident.

3) In game management

I generally like TM in interviews, he seems to have a pretty good handle on things. I think hes generally good at getting his players to buy into a system and making adjustments between games (you could argue whether or not his system is actually good though - I personally think he needs to reinvent his system). He really seems to make poor decisions in game though. Lots of poor personnel choices, and I think he overthinks critical moments. He trusts veterans too much even when they make the same mistakes over and over again.

4) Managing Goaltending

I just dont like the way hes managed goaltending. I think a good portion of the problem falls on PC because he hasnt really given TM good options with the backup. I just feel like hes runs Talbot in the ground and has hurt his confidence by continuously throwing him in there when he hasnt been playing well. I am interested to see if Koskinen plays well, how he will handle the goaltending this year.

There are lots of other issues like the players didnt seem to buy what he was selling this year. Didnt have players ready to start the game. I dont think TM and PC are on the same page with player usage which doesnt help.

I dont want to come across as too negative. I really hope the Oilers turn it around. Hopefully new assistants will open his eyes a bit. I personally dont think TM is the guy to do that, but I hope I am wrong. Time will tell.

I can guarantee he'll be fired by November if this team flounders. One of the assistants will be a guy like Gulutzan who has head coaching experience and can step in.

Click to expand...

I don’t see how you can guarantee that. You can guarantee he’ll deserve to be fired but you can’t guarantee it’ll happen. He deserved to be fired after this season and he wasn’t. There isn’t much rhyme or reason to anything these guys do.